1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to an electronic control which is completely incident within a cordset plug or plug-in module, and which enables the distributed control of an appliance. By offloading control functions from the appliance to the plug or module, the appliance itself becomes much simpler. The device represents a minimal control in that it uses very few parts, but has the advantage that it is programmable and may thus be adapted to a variety of control tasks. By implementing a programming approach that uses only three inputs, units may be built to stock and then programmed as needed, allowing for production economies of scale.
2. Description of Related Art
Static electronic controls that are resident in the plug are well known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,853,822 (Kamijo) and 5,844,759 (Hirsh et al.) disclose electronic protective circuits that are disposed within an appliance plug and that are used to detect certain types of unsafe operating conditions, interrupting power in response thereto.
The present invention comprises a programmable electronic control which is completely incident within a cordset plug or plug-in module. By using internal electrostatic discharge protection diodes as power supply rectifying elements, a minimal implementation is achieved. Programming of the device is accomplished by only three total external connections, enabling a plug or module to be completely assembled and then programmed after the fact.